1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an equine interleukin-1 peptide, DNA coding the same, a recombinant vector containing the DNA, a transformant containing the recombinant vector, and a process for preparing an anti-equine interleukin-1 antibody.
2. Prior Art
With respect to a horse, inflammatory diseases such as pneumonia, arthritis and laminitis have been clinically serious problems, and basic researches on measurement of cytokines and cytokine treatment have been important tasks.
On the other hard, an inflammatory cytokine has been known as a factor of endogenous fever and a factor of destroying chondrocytes. Interleukin-1 is the above inflammatory cytokine and participates in activation of cells. Two types, i.e., .alpha. type and .beta. type of interleukin-1 have been known.
The structure of interleukin-1 of a human, a mouse or the like has heretofore been determined (P. T. Lomedico et al., "Nature", Vol. 312, P. 458 (1984) and C. J. March et al., "Nature", Vol. 315, p. 641 (1985)). However, the structure of equine interleukin-1 has not yet been determined. This fact is an obstacle in researching relations between equine interleukin-1 and the above inflammatory diseases and also a bottleneck in developing medicines for diagnosing inflammatory diseases from relations with equine interleukin-1.